#you meet them...and they're very kind and a little goofy

[missionkitty]

[Image ID: a digital drawing of a muscular man with pointed ears and yellow eyes hugging a woman close to his chest as he looks at the viewer. he has a curious, almost smug look on his face while the woman looks relaxed and has her eyes closed. /End ID]

perhaps he is at least a little possessive underneath it all...

[hellenhighwater]

I have a maybe silly question, but uh. How do I become a more interesting person? I have a horrible habit of staying home and not going out and doing things. How do I not do that? This feels very goofy as a thing to ask, but you appear to have an interesting life, therefore making you a reliable source. Do with this what you will, and please say hi to your creatures! Here is my mischief goblin Jammer for your troubles:

It may seem backwards, but...don't try to be interesting, try to be interested.

Find things you find engaging, and then find ways to pursue them. It's best if you can find some kind of group or community that also does the thing you want to try--if you're struggling to find things you like, then just start trying things local to you. You've probably got a local birdwatching group, or a sewing circle, or a community theater, or a historical society, or a comic shop that does game nights, or a group of regulars volunteering at an animal shelter, or stained glass classes, or a makerspace, or any number of little communities that are out there. Try them! The first meeting will be the worst. And if you hate it, you don't have to keep at it, and trying will give you a fun story. Sooner or later you will land on something you like and then...keep turning up.

And if you're not finding things local and in person, then just take up whatever strikes your fancy at home. If you could be incredible at any three hobbies, what would they be? What's stopping you from starting those hobbies? You're going to fail at them when you start but you're already failing at them now by not starting, so what do you have to lose?

Here's the thing: nobody wants to talk with someone who's just singing their own victories. The best stories are the ones where we tried something new and different and silly and strange and maybe messed it up, but had fun. And the best stories are shared--ask other people about the things they're into, be interested and engaged and maybe see if they're open to teaching you a little, if their interests seem fun to you. It's not about being interesting, it's about sharing passion.

So find the things you're passionate about, and keep at them even after you've failed, and the rest will follow.

And pet your cat, he's doing his job so well!

[pressplay-if]

Please please please I'm begging on my knees Lincoln nsfw alphabet 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Now by popular demand, the makers of "Angel alphabet" bring you

The Lincoln alphabet

A = Aftercare Lincoln keeps a cool, wet towel by the bedside in case the MC is overheated. Also, they'll bring MC something to drink, clean them up and rub their shoulders if needed. Note how I wrote "MC" instead of "their partner"? That is significant.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s) Lincoln likes their own blue eyes, and their facial structure. They are overall very confident, although they sometimes wish they were a bit taller. Only sometimes. Lincoln LOVES the MC's vocal chords, they want to cut them out and keep them... kidding, of course. But really, vocal chords should count, right?

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically) Cum is... cum. Lincoln has no strong feelings about it.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs) A) They have a voice kink. B) Being humiliated by MC is a big turn-on for them. They want to crawl on all fours, sleep on the floor next to MC's bed, be forbidden from speaking, that kind of thing.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?) Lincoln has a lot of experience, but with few people. They have had two semi-serious relationships by the time MC meets them, and they pick the people they hook up with very carefully. Lincoln is very good at what they're doing.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying) Lincoln likes being on their knees for the MC. In any way whatsoever.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.) Very serious. Lincoln lives for whatever intimacy happens between them and the MC. There's nothing more important than MC, especially in that moment.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.) Lincoln is smooth like a dolphin. Male Lincoln, too. Wax. Wax all the way.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect) Devout. Zealous.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon) Lincoln has touched themself to the MC's songs SO many times... A picture alone doesn't do it, though. They need to hear their voice.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks) Hoooo boy. Okay. Voice kink, degradation kink, power play, bondage, body worship, begging, overstimulation.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do) Anywhere MC wants. But, gun to their head, Lincoln would have to say their own bedroom. They have everything they could ever need or want in there, endless possibilities, unlimited time...

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going) Well, given they're obsessed with the MC, the motivation is... there.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs) They are very submissive towards MC and will be turned off by MC wanting to be humiliated by them. They can play the dominant one for a while if that's what MC wants but they refuse to degrade them in any way.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.) They're really good at it, prefer giving but will absolutely not say no to receiving it either.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.) Whatever MC wants.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.) If MC wants to, absolutely yes. In fact, it would turn them on to be "used" for a quick stress relief.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.) hahahahahaahahaaaaa

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?) Lasts very long but will be ashamed if they come prematurely. Need a little breather before they can go again after.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?) They have all sorts of stuff. Big range, lots to choose from. And they're sorted by solo or to be used on a partner. Also by color. Lincoln is neat.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease) Not at all. They are there to provide.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.) They are as loud or as silent as MC permits them to be. They get louder the more overstimulated they get.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character) They would really like to take an intimate, vulnerable picture of the MC sometime. Not a naked picture. But like, a picture of MC's face right after orgasm, or while they're sleeping. Only if the MC is ok with it, tho.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes) Lincoln has nooooo problems showing off their body. If you've picked a female Lincoln, you might remember her party outfit. Yeah. Lincoln likes being naked, they have full confidence that they look good. They're lithe, lean, but strong. Also, they have that lovely tan...

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?) Outside of a relationship, it's pretty nonexistent. They pick and choose their flings very carefully. But with the MC, it's at 100, pretty much always.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards) THEY WILL NOT REST.

[ringdabel]

My thoughts on OP ships except im being 100% honest (P.1)

*LuNami - Cute but im not a big fan of it - Autisum and girlboss frfr - idm if its canon! I mean i like their moments of hugging and all, they're all so silly and i absolutely adore them! ^^ *LuHan - Nah... HARD pass... - I do not ship them at all and refuses to - their age gap is 12 and i think personally Boa is just having some kind of highschool crush -if this ship becomes canon...... bro im gonna stare in the distance and cry - If you ship these two...... NO OFFENSE! But What is wrong with you :[ *LuZo/ZoLu - MY EMOTINAL SUPPORT SHIP YIPPIEEEEE - They are so SO CANON u cannot convince me otherwise!!! - Dumb and Dumber. - I love and ADORE their dynamic! their interactions, first meetings, etc... EVERYTHING THEYRE SOOO CUTE AGHHCBSDBIL <3333 - The crew KNOWS they love eachother. They know what they are. - shamelessly kisses eachother goodnight - Zoro will die for Luffy, and Luffy will stop him. *LuSan/Sanlu - ONE OF MY FAV SHIPS EVER!!! Their interactions!! >>>>>> - WE KNOW SANJI LOVES HIM AND ADORES HIM. WE KNOW THAT ALREADY YOU FRENCH FRY - He wants to be Luffy's special boy in the OPLA, c'mon, its so obv - Sanji gets jealous when Luffy compliments other cooks other than him, its canon guys, trust me. MOVIE 6, THAT PHYSILOGICAL HORROR MOVIE OF OP. *ZoSanLu/ZoLuSan -POWER POLY LOVERS ON TOP! -i love them. *cries* -I have 400 pages of fanart featuring these stupid boneheads. - they sleep together and Luffy steals all the blankets - Zoro will def giving them his earings. aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh *LuKob/Koblu -Comfort ship of mine!!! THEYRE SO CUTE ITS ILLEGAL!!!! - I want them to reunite again, then hold hands and kiss eachother on the lips then go on cute little dates :[ - LUFFY IS KOBY'S GAY AWAKENING CHANGE MY MIND (i feel like hes more like bi or pan BUT) - Koby owns 6000 wanted posters of Luffy and its canon that he wants more of them. hes such a fanboy omg.... - If they ever date... they will have a matching handmade bracelet... Luffy's red and Koby's pink.... each has letters of eachother... - (ALSO THERES THIS FAV FIC OF THEM FROM AO3, THE AUTHOR IS okiedokeTM (madelinescribbles) AND THE FIC IS CALLED "Koby's Awful No-Good Very Confusing Day" CHECK IT OUT IF YOU CAN!!!!) - im very normal abt them (lie) *LuUso/UsoLu - Very cute ship!!1 - i personally see them as best friends more but its still verey cute! - They bond, they hug, they hit and they danced. yeah i get how ppl ship them!!!!!!!!! *LuLaw/Lawlu -Tbh.... its very cute! - i used to be obsessed with this ship bcs their dyanmic is so interesting, like Black cat and golden retriver! - i still kinda do ndcnas - Luffy reminds Law of Corazon bcs of his goofiness ughh CRIES - I hc Law that he has a soft spot for silly, goofy ppl, his sister, his crew, Corazon, LUFFY????????? He loves them but will never admit smh smh - When he ruins all of your well-planned plans that took you a whole week to make <3333333 *CobyLuLaw/KobyLawLu -AYEEEEEEEEEEE MY NEW FAV SHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!! - F**K BEING UNDERRATED, I WANT THIS TO BE KNOWN ACROSS THE WHOLE F**KING WORLD!!!!!! - PLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ITS SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! U HAVE TO WRITE FICS ABT IT I NEED MORE OF IT!!!1 - I want to thank @orange-artist for drawing and having KobyLawLu on my breakfast table!!!!!!!!!! - AND FOR YOU THE PPL WHO WRITE THE FICS ILY - me omw to make brainrots of these three stupid peas in a pod, fishes in a bowl, pens in a pencilcase :]]]

[punkeropercyjackson]

My audhd brain won't stop telling me to do a full breakdown of the parallels between Percy and Hobie so i will.Alright,let's do this one last time!

Troubled but good kids

Afro-dominican New Yorker/Jamaican-English(NY and England are where punk first started)

Anarchists,proffessional instigators,always helping out around communities(it's implied Percy participated in Rachel's protests and charities with her)and looking out for the little guy

So they're actual punks instead of just EdgyTM douchebags because they wanna do the right thing no matter what

No masking game autistics

Trans femmes who come across as masc only to normies

Chillaxed and super kind and love cute shit and people but also have major street credit,a huge edge and strong as fuck backbones and the reason they're so kind is that their childhood was beyond brutal so as they grew up they decided to be the positive older figure in younger people's lives they didn't take to have to the point they turned into Team Dad's

The EXACT same sense of humor

Blue-coded

Alt music lovers

Expressions are always either super intimidating or meme worthy goofy

Pet supernatural dog(Spidermutt and Mrs O'Leary)

Widely regarded as the coolest ever in-universe and correctly so but they're huge dorks when you get down to it but that only makes them even cooler-They were this cool the whole time

6'something with guitarist hands and described as so attractive it's shocking

Go by a nickname instead of their full name and have a common black surname

Oldest and most experienced heroes in their main casts

Hobie's dad is a deadbeat who left him as a baby to do supernatural shit

'I'm not a role model' 'I hate the a.m,i hate the p.m,i hate labels' 'I don't believe in consistency' / 'Was i a troubled kid?Yeah,you could say that' 'I AM impertenent' 'The sea does not like to be restrained'

'Calling yourself a hero makes you self-mythologizing'Hello???????????

Gwen is the Hazel to Hobie's Percy.She's a younger trans girl with a ghost motif who's a pastel ray of sunshine and runs her mouth as much as they do and has a dead mom,an abusive corrupted figure dad and their own impressive experiences in heroism before meeting them

Nico is another teen Ghostkid who Percy gifted a Ramones shirt and gave shelter to multiple times when he was homeless because Hades/Pluto is as much of a fucking cunt as George Stacy is.Nico is also a Miles kinnie because he's an optimistic softboy who's nerdy,a fast food lover and a lot stronger than he gives himself credit for and Percy is the big brother mentor to him the fandom thinks Hobie is to Miles(Nah fr Hobie and Miles are ambigious but Percy's canonically a grown ass man and Nico's Miles' age,P*rcicos pack it up and get over that your ship only works for transfem Percy proof)

Karl=Jason(the cooler St*ve R*gers,the actual voice of reason on the team but just as unhinged as the rest of them,very nice guy vibes and Hobie's righthand),Riri=Annabeth(Black girl genius who takes no shit but is still written as a person instead of a stereotype)and Mattea=Clarisse(red-coded,rowdy tomboy and war paint)

Mayday and Margo are basically just Estelle and Rachel,Jessica makes a pretty convincing Sally and Miguel reminds me of Poseidon but especially when he's interacting with Hobie

Sarcastic troublemaker smiles i've always found endearing(Rip to Annabeth but i'm different)(Also for Hobie i mean this platonically)

Immaculate rizz that's mostly unintentional but reaches critical levels when on purpose

Cocky asf and self-loathing at the same time

That one scene of Hobie leaving Gwen a Watch with the 'In case it don't work out' note with a lil doodle of him on it after getting her dad's ass/Percy sending the Olympians Medusa's head in a box after slaying her with a note saying 'Best wishes' to spite them

Goofy ahh who are nonetheless taken seriously cause Watch Out

They even both have terrible singing voices

And technically not the same thing but Hobie's also pink-coded so they're cotton candy colors and with Percy's white streak they can be the trans flag too!!

[rwbyrg]

Another thing I had noticed was the way Ruby interreacts with everyone vs. how she interacts with Oscar. Like her mannerisms seem to change a bit when she speaks or is near him or she treats him differently from the others. Because personally I've never seen her act very nervous around the others when she met them versus how she met Oscar, and she still does it to this day. What do you think?

I am soooooo late to answering these asks and this got sooooo long aha. Thank you for your patience. 🙇‍♀️

I have noticed that Ruby acts markedly different around Oscar than the others! And in my opinion, it is done with a great deal of intention. The thing with RG is that a lot of what makes the ship so strong is how subtle its writing is. So much of it is paralleled themes and a lot of it relies on an absence of something that is usually present. Often treating the absence itself as a presence of something to be paid attention to.

When we first meet Ruby in V1, she says she gets along better with weapons than she does with people. (Lol isn't it funny that Oscar's name means "God's Spear" haha. surely that has no correlation whatsoever... anyway).

When Ruby meets Weiss, she gets screamed at and makes a dust bomb explode in the courtyard, but by V2 so many of their conflicts are resolved and they've become rivals/besties/team partners.

When Ruby meets Blake, she's got her foot in her mouth and is super awkward... until there's an opportunity to connect with her about stories and fairytales. Then we see Ruby's earnest side come out and the anxiety in her pretty much disappears.

When Ruby meets Jaune, it's remarkably not awkward. Their shared social awkwardness and feelings of not belonging at Beacon cancel each other out and they're able to have a fairly normal conversation.

Very quickly through the early volumes, Ruby gets comfortable. As a leader, as part of her team, as a welcome part of their social circle. She's young, still optimistic and full of hope. She hasn't been given too much trauma or cause to question herself by that point. She has her moments, sure, but like a lot of kids that don't fit in much and aren't super social, she's actually really good at it once she's given the chance.

But when Ruby meets Oscar - while she has experienced some of the Horrors™ that have chipped away at her self confidence - she's not too different than usual. Not at first, anyway.

He comments on her eyes and she responds naturally by asking him who he is, she's able to be candid with her response when she's told he's carrying Oz around, and yeah she giggles a bit when they're all playing the 'getting to know you game', but she also smiles at him. Earnest, trying to make him feel at ease cause this situation is kind of weird for all of them. When they spar later, she's being a goofy kid. Sticking her tongue out at him, laughing while they throw and dodge punches, running to help him when he collapses, grabbing his wrist with very little hesitation to tug him towards the rest of the group. It's all fairly normal...

...and then the Dojo Scene happens.

With the Dojo Scene, the narrative tone of their relationship is both established and changed. Ruby comes down the stairs and she's open, at first. But as they talk a bit more, her body language becomes more and more closed off the closer she gets to him. Clasping her hands in front of her when she asks a question about his past, then hugging herself as she dares to step a little closer to him, as if putting up some kind of protective barrier.

She tries complimenting his efforts, laughing a bit to hide her nervousness, is fairly candid, and makes a bit of a joke. But the joke reveals a wound of hers that hasn't healed yet and opens the conversation up to vulnerability. A vulnerability that Oscar points out immediately. One she has not spoken to anyone else about up until that point.

"How do you handle all of this?"

Ruby pauses. She's not used to talking to people about her problems. At first, I don't think she's even thinking about herself when he asks. She nudges him to clarify what he means and he opens up about his own fears, which prompts her routine song and dance that she gives to everyone. Uplifting words, holding onto hope, keep moving forward, just don't let the things that haunt you catch up and you'll be fine.

And Oscar doesn't accept it. He isn't moved by it. He's not comforted. He rejects it, questions it, and completely lashes out. Is actually angry that she's telling him to "just press on" in spite of those fears. Is angry on her behalf that she's not being honest about her own feelings.

And Ruby cracks. She actually opens up and talks to Oscar about all the grief she keeps buried down and doesn't burden anyone with. She might have argued to herself that it was the only way to make Oscar feel better, but it's uncharacteristic for her. She doesn't usually have to go that deep to cheer other people up. When she tells him about her losses and motivations, Oscar joins her in that open doorway, in shared vulnerability... and the moment she sees an opportunity to retreat, she takes it. Not used to this closeness in the slightest.

From then on out they're still friends, clearly. Their bond strengthened, if anything... but Ruby does not know how to handle him when he has such a skill for seeing through her in ways no one else ever seems to catch onto. She's able to push it away a bit when he's pre-occupied with something else. When he's worried about the merge or his mistakes in Atlas, or they're in a group conversation, she's able to act with some sense of normalcy... but when they're alone that awkwardness comes creeping back.

When WBY confront Ruby about her decision to keep the truth from Ironwood, Yang specifically asks how Oscar feels about it, and we see Ruby falter. This is a direct parallel to Bumbleby circa V8 when Yang is the one worrying about Blake thinking less of her for her own decision. We've seen Ruby disagree with people before and remain confident in her choice... but she questions herself here because of how much she values Oscar's opinion. And their disagreement colours more of her interactions with him throughout V7.

When they're all practicing in the academy training rooms, Oscar comments on her semblance. Asking if she's always been able to do that, which is something he wouldn't ask if he didn't pay close enough attention to be able to notice such differences. She's laughing awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

And the fumble, when they finally come back together with renewed trust - that I already dove into a bit over in this post - she's still doing it!!

She is so excited to talk to him again, to not be at odds, that she almost runs directly into his back and is all flailing arms, and awkward giggles as she tries to tell him she agrees with him. When they finally establish that they're on the same page, she's hugging herself tight, rubbing her arm, looking away from him in her nervousness. Even when she walks away she's hugging herself again. Meanwhile, Oscar is all open body language, hand on hip, hand extended to her, active listening and receptive to what she has to say.

Interesting that this conversation's themes around choosing truth over fear calls back to the Dojo Scene so well, innit? 🤔

The last example I want to give isn't about Ruby. It's about Oscar. Throughout the show, he's always been a bit skittish, jumpy, and expressive with things like loud noises and - quite noticeably - touch. Oscar's been tackled to the ground by Nora in multiple hugs, tackled by the whole team in V6 after he went missing, scooped up by Jaune after he was kidnapped, and in all of those instances there has been a noticeable physical discomfort from him. Often a flinch or a wince beforehand, only relaxing into it after the surprise of the impact is over with.

But Ruby has put her hand on Oscar's shoulder multiple times (outside the Dojo Scene) without eliciting that response from him. One of those touches made him blush, if anything. And when Oscar returns from Salem's prison, beaten and covered in bruises. Ruby is running to hug him and not only does he not flinch, he smiles with open arms, completely ready for and accepting of it. And then the narrative robbed him of the chance 😭

Ruby, despite her usual confidence, resolve, and unwillingness to talk about her issues, becomes nervous, awkward, and self conscious around Oscar. The absence of her usual demeanor becomes the presence of how much she values what Oscar thinks of her and how vulnerable he's able to make her feel. (Which, for a character as emotionally guarded as Ruby, is a good thing).

Similarly, Oscar's established pattern of resisting physical touch - even when he's injured and probably sporting a few broken ribs - is absent with Ruby. It becomes a presence instead of his comfort, trust, and (desire for) closeness to her.

While these examples aren't exhaustive, generally speaking, the absences of their usual behaviours around one another become the presence of something unique to their relationship and often serve to highlight their attachments to each other. Be it how they interact with each other directly... or how they act when they're apart. But that, my friends, is an entirely different post and I have rambled long enough for today.

[jq37]

FH Junior Year Post-Season Thoughts

With another season of Fantasy High in the books and my recaps all finished, I wanted to do an overview of my thoughts on the season as a whole. Even though I feel generally positive about my experience with the season, there are a few things I think maybe could have been done differently narratively or mechanically. This isn't to criticize the way the season went down or to backseat DM/Play. More my combined ten years of college for textual analysis and storytelling bleeding through, haha. 

I first want to start with the things I thought worked really well.

Fantasy High has "High" right in its title but, in past seasons (and especially Sophomore Year), not as much time as you'd think was spent actually at school and even if it was spent at school, there wasn't much time spent in class or engaging with the realities of being a student. This season really dug into the academic consequences of skipping your classes all the time and the realities of needing to do a ton of extra stuff to try for a scholarship and I think that was a refreshing thing to highlight for a change. Being more scared at flunking out than the dragon that's trying to eat you feels very emotionally resonant. Real "High School Is Killing Me" vibes for anyone who's a fan of NPMD. 

Even though Fantasy High is a show that has some deep emotional beats and strong character arcs, it's first and foremost a comedy show. From the jump, everyone was generating bit after bit that had me cracking up as usual. "Little girly dog collar" is one of the funniest combinations of words I can think of. I think it was Siobhan who said that this was the goofy season and, having seen it, I'd have to agree with her. It never failed to make me laugh and it was always a highlight of my week.  The cast just has great table chemistry that I love to watch no matter what they're doing. 

Watching some of these high level combat encounters is as close as I'll get to understanding people watching sports. Even though combat is generally my least fave part of D&D, I think the cast really killed it this season with how cleverly they played and Brennan came up with some really great combat encounters. Special shout outs to Baron's Game and The Last Stand for their unique mechanics.  

This is going to be one that's on the other list as well because my feelings are mixed, but I genuinely do like the downtime mechanic and how it forces hard choices. I think it's an interesting way to connect a mechanic to the story and cultivate stressful atmosphere for the season.

I have problems with the execution but I love the Rat Grinders in concept. I think as early as season 1 I was hoping that we'd meet a party that was like the Bizarro Bad Kids and the idea of a party that's farming XP instead of going on crazy adventures is a strong concept. Likewise, I think a character that's jealous because of your "cool" (read: tragic) backstory is also a fun trait for an unhinged antagonist in this kind of setting.

This is me absolutely showing my bias but I adored the Abernant Sisters content this season. I dunno if Siobhan specifically asked Brennan to not put her on a bus with the other beloved NPCs or what but I'm so glad she stuck around and we got the development we did. It was almost entirely ancillary to the plot but there was this clear pattern of Aelwyn getting softer and sweeter towards Adaine over the course of the season, from the guarded, "Enjoy the nemesis ward," to, full I love you's and, "I'd take them to get you." It was way more focus than I expected considering that Aelwyn completed the bulk of her arc last season and a lot of the time, a redemption arc basically ends after the big gesture (in this case, Aelwyn taking a magic blast for Adaine in Sophomore Year). So the fact that we got to see all of these sweet moments of them reestablishing their relationship outside of do or die moments was such a pleasant surprise. Again, I fully admit I am extremely biased, but this was my top wishlist item and the season overdelivered so there's a baseline happy I'm always gonna be with Junior Year. 

OK, so moving on to things I things I think could have been tweaked.

Even though I liked the downtime system and the pressures it created, it also squeezed out the chance for more casual PC to NPC interactions that would usually be more common because they were semi-locked behind the relationship track and there wasn't an obvious benefit to roll for Relationships (as opposed to something like Academics which was crucial for not flunking out). Making the mechanical benefit more clear would have helped that (even if it meant Brennan didn't get his reveal--which he ended up just telling them anyway so might as well do it early). The other thing is that the consequence of a rage token was so bad that of course they spent all season avoiding getting one. Things might have gone differently if the consequences had been a bit more obscured, like in Neverafter. And it could have been a nice parallel to the Rat Grinders to take this unknown resource that makes things easier for you but is also having this negative effect. Then it could be like dang we did the same thing they did unknowingly. 

I mentioned this in my recap but I'll talk about it again. It is a little confusing to me that we did the Ankarna subplot right after we did the very similar Cassandra subplot. It took up so much time this season which I don't think is an issue in and of itself, it's just that we literally just went through some extremely similar beats last season. Why double up on this same storyline when there's so much new ground to cover? Or if we're going to raise a god, why not make it a different kind of god? One theory I had early on was that the Rat Grinders were trying to raise their own god to one-up the Bad Kids but instead of raising a chill, misunderstood Cass type, they accidentally raised a god who was erased for a good reason and got in over their heads. 

It's fun for there to be connections between seasons but sometimes it's like, OK that's a *lot* of coincidences. Like the god who your rivals is trying to raise *happens* to be the wife of your cleric's god and also *happens* to be the god of the fiend trapped in your friend's mom's chest and that fiend *happens* to be the relative on your bard's dad's side which is *also* the reason she is randomly cursed? That's a LOT of red string connecting plot points. As unhinged as Kipperlilly is about coveting Riz's backstory if I saw that go down I'd be like you have *got* to be kidding me.  

The mystery elements didn't feel like they clicked as well as they did in other seasons. I think that's partially because Porter's plan was so convoluted (seriously, I made another post about how haphazard his plan was) and had all these moving parts and we didn't get clear answers for a lot of mechanical things like how the rage crystals actually work and when they were implanted and stuff. You had stuff like Devil's Honey which I think is super cool as a thing that exists in the world but ended up being an element that just led the players down the wrong path and had a relatively small payoff (that Porter was using it to lie to Ankarna). I think it's plausible that a forgotten god would be willing to listen to anyone saying the right things without introducing this element. (As opposed to, for instance, Ambrosia which has a very clear connection to what's going on and is a solid clue that someone is flirting with aspirations of godhood.) 

The Porter reveal came so late in the season that even though it was a fun/challenging fight, there wasn't a lot of emotional weight behind killing him. It was basically just dunking on a teacher Fig has always hated who was also mean to Gorgug so screw him. Which, valid of course. But the Bad Kids were never going to react as strongly to Porter as they were to the Rat Grinders so putting Porter in the prime villain spot isn't necessarily what I would have done if I wanted the fight to be more than just a brawl--especially since we've done "School admin with student minions" already in S1. I don't mind the full circle callback but it would have been nice to pick something else for the sake of variety. We haven't had a child mastermind yet and I think Kipperlilly could have been a great candidate for that. My friend suggested that it would have been fun if Kipperlilly was trying to become a god instead of just being Porter's underling and I agree. "I'm not anyone's chosen one so I'll choose myself," is still within her established jealousy and Type A tendencies. If we want to keep Porter involved since that was Brennan's gift to Emily, maybe have it be that instead of Kipperlilly working for him, he's working for her. Like Artemis Fowl vibes! And the Rat Grinders can be varying levels of on board--from true believe to redeemable. I don't think Brennan planned for the Bad Kids to ever redeem her so might as well go full megalomaniacal mastermind with her and make her The Villain if she's not gonna be nuanced anyway. If My Little Pony can do it and send a literal child to Tartarus for pony treason (or whatever Cozy Glow did), Fantasy High can too. 

Continuing from the above, if we have the Porter fight in place of the Grix fight (a la Daybreak) and don't use Ankarna, that gives way more time for the Bad Kids to investigate the Rat Grinders throughout the season and it would mean that they would have their personalities developed a lot more. With the limited downtime, they Bad Kids didn't have a lot of time to spend on these kids who were just hating on them for no good reason (valid). But if you cleared their plate of the god hunt stuff, they'd have more time for this. And if they weren't all rage zombies to varying degrees, it would be easier to see them as characters. Besides Kipperlilly (and, funnily enough, Mary Ann) we don't really have a good read on what these kids are actually like. The little time we spent with them all season was kind of a wash if them breaking out of rage means their personalities got laundered too. Anyway, regardless of how their loyalties ended up shaking out, it would have been fun for them to be more than the minions that they were in canon. As funny as it is for them to just kinda be XP farming losers, they did have the potential to be more interesting in their own right if they weren't just Porter's minions. And again, we've done adults forcing or coercing children into being minions in Freshman and Sophomore Year already. Lemme see some self-created child maniacs! (Or, peer pressured child maniacs. That's cool too. The Lucy/Kipperlilly dynamic is way more interesting to me if it's like girl, I would take a bullet for you but I CANNOT walk this path with you any further in response to *I* will be a god and you can be *MY* champion.)

Anyway, those are my thoughts! Like I said, I have my points that I think could have been tightened, but overall an enjoyable season and I will be glued to my screen if they decide to close out with Senior Year! 

[nanawritesit]

Being the Unofficial Gardener of the Ouran High School Host Club Headcanons

anonymous said: “Hi! I've read your rules and i really like the ohshc thing you did so I'm going to request if that's ok? this is like an Oc without a name, Reader is the quote and unquote gardener of the host club. ( i cannot believe they just don't have a supplier when they use that many flowers i mean c'mon) Their grandpa owns a successful business selling flowers. Reader's grandpa raised them, Thats because readers mom died giving birth to them and readers dad died of cancer. (Reader used to get bullied for this since all the other kids at school thought their grandpa was going to sell them). Reader kind of has this standoffish personality. but just doesn't know how to communicate properly when you get to know them, they're actually really goofy.”

It’s true, the host club could never function without a reliable flower supplier. And lucky you, your grandfather happened to own the most successful flower business in the country. That’s how you were able to afford going to Ouran Academy.

The partnership began during your first year there. You shared a few classes with Kyoya, but you were never very close with him because of his intimidating family background.

He was also a bit intimidated to talk to you because of your closed off personality, and the rumors that had been going around about you being bought from your parents by a strange old man for garden labor didn’t help.

However one day, he decided to listen in on a conversation you were having with one of your friends. You were talking about a great sale your grandfather had made to supply flowers for a government ceremony.

He immediately felt guilty for falling victim to vicious gossip, but connected the dots about your family quickly. And of course, that got the gears in his head turning.

He was still in the early planning stages of founding the Host Club with Tamaki, and securing a trustworthy flower supplier was something they had been worried about

So, being the strategic communicator he is, he smoothly approached you and invited you over to the Ootori residence for a cup of tea

You were shocked that someone with such high status as him was interested in associating with you, but as soon as you realized it was a business proposition, you opened up a bit more

You were happy to get your grandfather another customer, especially one as wealthy as Kyoya, and soon you were making plans on what flowers and what arrangements he wanted

Fast forward to now, you’re both second years and the Host Club is thriving, you almost can’t keep up with the amount of flowers they go through

Most of the work you do is behind the scenes, so you didn’t really get to interact with any of the other club members

That was, until one day when your grandfather asked you to make a delivery to the club with a huge batch of flowers so he could attend a business meeting

You were nervous, but agreed anyway. Luckily there weren’t any guests in the music room yet, just the club members

Immediately a gush of rose petals blew in front of your face, and the sight of six handsome guys greeted you

You just stood there like a deer in the headlights

Tamaki was the first to approach you, taking your hand in his and kissing the back of it

“Ah, what a beautiful blossom that’s bloomed before us as our first guest today. Would you do me the honor of telling me your name, my princess/prince/ noble?”

“Y/N?” a voice suddenly asked. You both looked over to see Kyoya entering the room, surprised to see you but not at all displeased.

“You know each other?” Tamaki gasped.

“Yes, this is Y/N Y/L/N. They’re the grandchild of our flower supplier. It’s all thanks to them that we have enough flowers for all our events.”

All the guys immediately started crowding you, asking you a million questions at once.

You were a little overwhelmed, but just smiled politely and answered all their questions.

“You’re so lovely, it’s a wonder I haven’t seen you around the academy before.” Tamaki smirked, flirtatious as always.

“Well, I tend to hang out in the shadows. Back in middle school everyone made up rumors about me and it made me a bit of a loner.” you explained with a shy chuckle.

“Yeah, I heard your parents went bankrupt and sold you to their old loan shark to get out of debt.” Hikaru commented nonchalantly.

“Yeah, and I heard you’re an indentured servant who has to do hard physical labor everyday after school.” Kaoru added.

Tamaki immediately turned around and scolded them, waving his arms and yelling at them to be more polite in the presence of a lady/ gentleman/ noble.

“It’s okay Tamaki, I’m used to them all by now.” you chuckled. “My parents actually passed away when I was younger and left me in the care of my grandfather.”

“Y/N-chan, do you help grow the flowers too?” Honey asked excitedly, gazing up at you with huge eyes.

“Yes, I do actually! My grandfather taught me everything he knows about gardening, and it’s something I really enjoy doing!” you responded.

“Wow. That’s cool.” Mori said flatly. Although you could tell it was sincere.

“Why haven’t you introduced us to them before, Kyoya-senpai?” Haruhi asked, turning to the vice-president.

“I didn’t mean to keep them from you, there was just never an avid opportunity. But I suppose now is a good a time as any to make the introduction.” Kyoya answered, adjusting his glasses and turning towards you. “Y/N, meet the Ouran High School Host Club.”

They each went down the line telling you their names and types, which was quite entertaining. You had heard of the club’s popularity but never gotten around to visiting them.

“I’m sorry we go through so many flowers. It must be difficult to grow so many.” Haruhi said sympathetically.

“Oh it’s no strain on the business, I actually tend to most of your club’s stock personally so that my grandfather can focus on his other sales.” you reassured her. “However, I do sometimes wish I could grow more plants. I could probably run an entire garden just for the Host Club!”

Tamaki’s eyes immediately lit up. “Y/N, that’s a marvelous idea!”

“Hm? Oh no, I was only joking…” you laughed nervously.

“Actually, that might be a useful investment.” Kyoya began, placing his fist under his chin in thought. “It would be nice to have our own garden and not have to worry about business transactions.”

“Senpai, Y/N can’t grow us an entire garden for free!” Haruhi exclaimed. You were touched that she was immediately on your side.

“Don’t be silly, we’ll pay them an adequate salary.” Kyoya told you. “And of course a small share will be given to their grandfathers business as a courtesy.”

“I want to grow lots of pink flowers!” Honey cheered, jumping up and down in excitement.

“Think of all the schemes we could pull with a whole garden of flowers at our disposal!” the twins beamed in unison, joining hands and twirling around.

“I can see it now… lush bushes of roses and hydrangeas, hanging branches of cherry blossoms and orchids, cobblestone paths lined with lillies and tulips!” Tamaki declared, striking a grand pose at the center of the room. “Get ready men, because soon the Ouran Host Club will have a brand new garden!”

You looked around at all the chaos unfolding before you. Kyoya was already typing up a budget on his computer, Mori was chasing Honey around the room as he threw handfuls of rose petals in the air, and Haruhi just stood there with her head in her hands.

“I had to make a joke, didn’t I…” you sighed to yourself.

While you were initially overwhelmed at the daunting prospect of creating an entire garden, it turned out to not be so bad. Kyoya handled most of the property scouting and landscaping with his endless business connections. You were pretty much just in charge of picking what flowers to grow and taking care of them.

And so, everyday after school, you would go to the new garden behind the building and tend to your flowers :) Your grandfather was very happy that you were making friends and spending less time at the business

Haruhi would usually come by to help you water the plants when she needed to sneak away from the chaos of the club

She loved your chill personality, and you always made her laugh and forget her stress in a second :)

You had your suspicions about her gender from the beginning, but you never really cared. You didn’t really see people as labels, just who they where on the inside. It was this mindset that actually made her comfortable enough to confide her secret in you!

Honey would sometimes come by and bring you some cakes that were leftover from the club activities, and you’d sit on a swing and eat them together <3

Sometimes he would bring Mori along, and while you were a little shy around him, you were happy to see that he was also interested in your gardening. He would often ask you what different flowers symbolized, and what kind of care certain flowers needed

The twins would come by to gather flowers for their various schemes, and would often encourage you to take a break and have some fun with them!

The three of you would run around the gardens, playing tag and hide and seek until you were all so tired you were sprawled out in the grass, panting and laughing wildly

Kaoru was happy to see Hikaru finally opening up to someone, and would sometimes try to give the two of you space to talk by yourselves

Hikaru could listen to you talk about flowers for hours and never get bored. He also liked to tuck them behind your ear, smiling at how pretty you looked <3

Tamaki always seemed to be busy tending to his numerous princesses, but every once in a while he would come by to thank you for making this all possible

And of course, he couldn’t help but flirt with you a bit :)

“All these gorgeous blossoms… and yet none of them compares to your beauty, my dear.”

You would’ve fallen for him had you not been so smart

Kyoya was probably the one you saw most often, as he was the one you knew the longest and the one who planned out most of the garden

He was always making sure you had enough equipment and starts, and discussing new arrangement ideas with you

“Are you sure it’s not too much work for you, Y/N?” he asked sincerely.

“Oh it’s not too bad, it’s not like I’m working myself to the bone.” you reassured him. “I mean yeah, it would be nice to have some help, but it would have to be from someone who understands gardening.”

“Why don’t you start a gardening club?” he proposed.

You jaw unhinged in shock. “Oh Kyoya, that’s a wonderful idea, but I don’t know the first thing about starting a club.”

“I do, and I can help you. I founded this club after all.” he smiled, adjusting his glasses.

After a few weeks of paperwork and meeting with the school board, you became the president of the Ouran High School Gardening Club :)

The guys were all so proud of you, they decided to host a ball in your honor!

You were hesitant at the idea, still a bit self conscious of all the rumors that had been spread about you in the past

But after much convincing, you agreed. The twins even got you a custom ball outfit from their mother’s fashion line!

Tamaki took his place at the foot of the staircase to greet all the guests, making your heart beat out of your chest from behind the double doors.

“Welcome princesses, princes, and nobles of Ouran Academy! Thank you so much for attending this ball in celebration of the founding of the Ouran Gardening Club! The president of this club is someone that the Host Club is very close with. In fact, if it weren’t of them, there wouldn’t be a single rose petal at any of our events. Please join me in welcoming Y/N Y/L/N!”

You then made your entrance, a light downpour of rose petals floating around you as you descended the staircase <3

You looked around to see everyone cheering for you and smiling at you admiringly. You started wondering why you ever retreated into the shadows in the first place. It was almost enough to bring a tear to your eye.

Halfway through your decent, you looked down to see all seven members of the Host Club holding a bouquet of your favorite flowers! They must have asked your grandfather what they were ;)

As you reached the bottom of the staircase, the applause ended. Then, all the guys held out their bouquets to you with warm smiles.

“Thank you for being our gardener Y/N!”

[smytherines]

Tumblr won't let me post this from my drafts, but @uhhhitsme this is me responding to what you wrote yesterday!

I think that's right though. This is a long distance relationship. They live an ocean apart, they only get to see each other when their countries deem it necessary to work together. They have to have their entire relationship in secret because it is illegal. And probably treason because they work for two different countries. It is super turbo illegal.

I mean, long distance couples who don't have all those additional issues, who can call or video chat or whatever every day if they choose to, who have support networks there for them to lean on, (who aren't gay spies in the 1950s), most of the time they still don't make it because the distance is just too much to overcome. But Curt and Owen made it work. Even if it was messy and they were both assholes and nothing about it was rational. They made it work.

We don't know how long Curt and Owen were together before the fall, but I'm guessing it was at least a couple of years? They work incredibly well together, they're bantering and giving these goofy lovesick grins to each other (they make me sick)

Even when they bicker it feels like an old married couple. And it has to be that way for the show to make sense. We get less than ten minutes to establish their relationship, and this little section of the show is what gives the staircase scene true dramatic weight. Because there is so much fucking chemistry in that first ten minutes, such a sense of intimacy between them, that when Curt says "the feelings we had" the audience is already there. We don't need to be convinced (especially queer viewers who clocked this shit right away) because yeah of course these two were together.

They were able to keep this thing going off of maybe a couple of days together every few months? Days where they were mostly risking their lives and killing people and getting shot/stabbed/tortured and then hooking up in a hotel room or safe house or whatever.

One thing I think about a lot is if they were able to be that close to each other, function that well together, be so fucking familiar and warm with each other with just those little scraps of time together, I can't even imagine what they'd be like if they actually had time to just be together. Time to learn to be in a relationship. There's a line from Black Box that goes like "a real relationship- the kind of thing with a permanent address," and that's what Curt and Owen never got to have, and its the kind of thing you have to learn, you have to practice.

That's tough though, because I also think Curt's inherent restlessness would make it very difficult for him to settle down into a comfortable quiet life away from everything. I think he's the kind of guy who theoretically wants the comfort and happiness of a happy little domestic situation, wants to be loved and wanted, but it would be torture for him to have to stay in the same place for very long. At least as a younger man. He wants the idea of it. He wants it emotionally, but couldn't handle it practically. What he truly wants is for he and Owen to eternally live out their glory days together as the world's greatest spies- constant adrenaline and pressure and excitement.

This is pure headcanon, but I picture Owen as the kind of guy who has never wanted any of that. Home is where he keeps his shit in between missions. He doesn't want a happy little domestic life, he wants to do the job he's good at until he dies. Until he meets Curt. Then he starts wanting all sorts of things he knows he can never have. He wants to keep Curt safe, wants to know that they'll be able to see each other whenever they want, they'd have control of their own lives instead of being controlled by their agencies. He wants to stop having to work so hard and think so much and constantly constantly plan for the worst.

So it's difficult to say, but in my heart I do think that if they had more time, both in the pre-fall relationship and, y'know, Curt not putting a bullet in Owen's head, I think they could have figured it out. I think if they were able to sustain the feelings they had for so long on so little actual contact, then it would be difficult and painful and even more messy than before, but eventually they could move on to something better.

I think they loved each other enough to try, but after everything they had each been through in their four years apart, after the ways they had hurt each other and broken each other's trust, they just... couldn't see that in the moment. Which is pretty tragic to me.

[othervee]

Meeting the Erikssons

Another little roundup of YR observations, this time focusing on the main non-royal family and what we learn about them that's shown, not said.

Let's start with Simon and Sara on the bus.

Even this tiny little snip tells us so much. They're taking goofy selfies where they both look stupid, compared to the shots we see Felice later posting, which are all carefully posed and curated to present the most ideal version of herself and her life, to the point of untruth. These two are presenting their authentic selves, and they're unafraid to hide their affection for one another. Following on from their earlier dialogue we understand that they're used to relying on each other and to some extent feeling separate to the rest of the world.

Rosh and Ayub give us another important insight into Simon (and themselves) which becomes important later when August keeps warning Wilhelm that Simon, and non-elites in general, will want to get close to him, to use their proximity to get attention and favours. But Simon and his friends genuinely do not give a crap about Wilhelm at all (at this stage anyway). They're not even interested. They poke fun at the GIF of the fight and ask with mild curiosity if he's the loser they think he is, but that's it. Like August, they see Wilhelm as inhabiting a different world to themselves, but it's not one they aspire to or want to know about. Unlike someone else present...

The dinner scene, like the palace press conference scene, sets the tone for how this family lives and relates to each other and the world. The room is small, but there are lots of large windows which let in natural light and also show these people aren't hiding. The room is dark but there are a number of lights switched on - at least three small lamps as well as the big light over the table - which gives a warm glow. There are plants all over the place, not sedate formal flower arrangements but green houseplants spilling their tendrils down the walls. There are what appear to be postcards or just small pictures on the walls haphazardly. It's a warm place filled with growth and life.

Ayub is staying for dinner; he's helping lay the table, which indicates he's a familiar face here, more family than guest. However Sara has to teach him the "correct" way to do it, which shows us that Ayub's own family don't do the formal dinner thing and also implies that Sara has only recently started being so specific about dinner etiquette.

And they're informal enough as a family that Simon can swear in front of both his mother and their guest. (Also, continuity error: there's already spaghetti in the bowls when Simon brings the pan in, but in the next shot they're empty).

Sara complains about the way Simon chews, and asks her mother to sit up straight in a reversal of the traditional mother-teen daughter dynamic, to the point where Linda even rolls her eyes a little.

While the boys snicker by Sara's new poshness, it shows us again how casual the Erikssons are that Sara can talk money, and Linda can reprimand her, in front of Ayub.

Sara scorns the 'diverse' crowd at her old school, but she kind of has a point - IF you define 'amounting to something' as economic success and can overlook her bluntness. Later when Simon tells Ayub and Rosh that he doesn't want to stay in Bjärstad all his life, things get a little awkward. Rosh and Ayub seem to be happy to stay there. Both Eriksson siblings aren't, but they have very different attitudes about where they want to be and how they want to get there. Simon wants to stand out with his talent and good grades; Sara wants to blend in by taking on as many signifiers of the elite world as she can.

A few other things that struck me rewatching this:

Sara is the only one using both a fork and spoon to twirl her spaghetti. Everyone else is just eating straight from the fork.

Simon asks his mother how her day was, showing a little of the 'man of the house' role that later becomes more obvious

Sara isn't incorrect. The cheaper items do wear out quicker. it's the Sam Vimes Boots Theory.

And we still have one more Eriksson to meet.

This scene is heartbreaking. And Micke's surroundings again tell us about him and his circumstances. It's noisy in his building. There are multiple locks on the door - he doesn't feel safe, probably because it's a high crime area.

From the way Simon glances around, it could be the first time he's actually been in this apartment. The couch is disheveled with a messy blanket - Micke sleeps there. There's a framed picture leaning against the wall, implying Micke either hasn't finished sorting his place out or doesn't have the room for all his stuff. Also, THERE IS A LITTLE BASKET OF SATSUMAS - did Simon pick up the taste for them from his dad?

(Another little thing that links the two of them - they both have artwork depicting faraway cities on their walls. Simon has a London poster, his dad has New York.)

Piles of mail, the TV remote, cigarettes and lighter and Micke even has the gas gun from the stove in here. Is that because he's sometimes too uncoordinated to flick the lighter cleanly, I wonder.

There are plants here too, but they're not doing well. They're straggly, not thriving. The apartment's disorder is of course reflected in Micke himself, unshaven, bloodshot eyes and crumpled grubby clothes. You can almost smell him.

The way they hug is uncoordinated. Micke desperately wants the contact with his child, but neither of them is used to it, they don't know how to fit together.

This was the first scene that made me marvel that that this was Omar's first acting job. Heartbreaking.

[familiaralien]

Giant monster tamer megathread

Decided for the sake of education and my own neurodiversity to make a post including every video game series or stand alone title I know of that focuses on creature capturing competitions that isn't Pokemon.

One big exception: the game has to be a reasonably playable state. So no games that are effectively or literally lost media (like Micromon) or games that only playable state is currently a short demo (like Bestieball). With that in mind here we go:

Digimon

This one is pretty obvious. While more of a multimedia franchise it has tons of games to its IP. The one that probably would appeal most to Pokenerds is Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and its sequel as they're turned based RPGs with a monster capture mechanic.

Monster Rancher

Another one I think a lot of folks have heard about or least millennials would remember. I haven't personally played any of these titles myself but from what I gather they're raising sims with tournament combat. For a while their availability was mostly limited to emulation but Monster Rancher 1 and 2 have been ported to modern systems like the Switch.

Yo-kai Watch

A mid 2010s franchise that had a whole lot of initial success in Japan. Its an RPG series that doesn't take itself very seriously with cute and goofy monster design based on the Japanese folklore creatures called... well yokai. Has real time combat instead of turn based and more luck based capturing mechanics than Pokemon.

Palworld

Brand new game that's only in its alpha release as of now. Its effectively a parody of Pokemon where you're stuck trying to survive in the wilderness so you must build a base and farm resources to survive. Game did have some initial controversy due to some of its designs stepping a little TOO close to being outright ripoffs of existing designs. Also you can capture and enslave humans which may not vibe with some folks.

Temtem

Basically Pokemon meets a MMO lite. The game can be played mostly as single player campaign but does unfortunately still require a constant internet connection. Battles are turned based but 2 versus 2.

Shin Megami Tensei

What could be consider the original monster tamer game. The series is aimed at a somewhat older audience and the plots tend to be more philosophical then like "gotta be the best *insert title here* ever". Focuses a lot on fusing monsters as well as trying to convince them to join you. You actually battle alongside your monsters.

Dragon Quest Monsters

Monster Capturing mechanics do exist in the mainline DQ games as well (at least since DQ5 I think?) but its these games have them as the main gameplay. Much like SMT it focuses on fusing monsters as one of the main ways to expand your library off available species.

Nexomon

Franchise that started its life as a mobile game but has since gotten ports to other systems. Its very similar to Pokemon in terms of creature designs and combat but the worldbuilding is quite different as is its tone being a lot more comedic.

Coromon

Indie game with visuals similar to Pokemon Black and White. Its story was originally kinda so-so and its ending pretty abrupt but its since gotten a free patch that smoothed that out quite a bit. Also has a sorta unique "shiny" system where alternate colors are associated with higher potential which can actually be altered once. Also has a built in randomizer and "nuzlocke" mode.

Cassette Beasts

A pretty recent indie game. Unlike all the others you don't capture or hatch monsters but rather record them to transform into them yourself. Battles are always between you and a companion which there are multiple to befriend throughout your journey (including a dog!). Has some really interesting quirks with its type chart that adds a lot of extra depth. Will soon be releasing a mutiplayer update for anyone that's into that kind of thing.

Monster Crown

A game with visual based on the Gameboy era. It has some pretty fascinating breeding mechanics and a somewhat darker tone than Pokemon. WARNING: DO NOT GET THE SWITCH PORT! For whatever reason its especially glitchy and I have genuinely gotten entire save files ruined by game breaking bugs (such as my player character getting stuck in walls or clipping out of a bounds). As far as I'm aware the PC version is not nearly as much as a mess though.

Monster Sanctuary

Monster collecting meets metroidvania. Has a really fun skill tree type move learning system that allows for quite a bit of strategy. Also the monster designs are way less Pokemon and more inspired by traditional roleplay monsters (so there's like Goblins and stuff). My only gripe with the game is how you get monsters involves getting specific scores in battle which makes getting 1 of each monster way more tedious than it needed to be.

Fossil Fighters

Franchise is maybe dead since there hasn't been a new entry in it since the 3DS but its still easy enough to these games. Anyway this series involve reviving dinosaurs (and some other ancient animals) into new lifeforms called vivosaur and using them in 3 on 3 combat. Vivosaurs are obtained with a fossil digging minigame which is kinda neat.

Spectrobes

Another franchise that's been pretty dead for a while (it last entry was on the Wii). Spectrobes has a more sci fi like setting with its monsters being aliens you revive from fossils. Combat is real time and you participate alongside a couple of your monsters. I'm btw describing only the first game because I haven't played either sequel!

Evocreo

Mobile only monster game with a style similar to Pokemon Black and White not unlike Coromon mentioned above. Has a lot of focus on split path evolution. The devs are apparently going to release a sequel soon but its been in development hell for years so I'll come back and edit this if that actually happens.

Monster Hunter Stories

I have not played nor watched gameplay of this one so I can't really describe it that deeply all I know is its a spinoff of Monster Hunter involving befriending and using the titular monsters in combat.

Telefang

Its sad this game series is most famous for being badly translated and repackaged as a Pokemon game. Anyway these are Japanese only titles though fan translations exist. The gimmick of this game is that you call monsters up on your cellphone to get them over to participate in combat. This series this sprout out when cellphones were consider newfangled and hip so it makes sense.

Anode Heart

Pretty sure this one is PC only. Takes some inspiration from the Digimon World games and is semi open world. Sadly this one I don't know much about outside of that though it does have a free demo on Steam for anyone that wants to try it for themselves.

Ooblets

Extremely wholesome monster catching and farming game. Battles are actually dancing competitions instead of violent confrontations and monsters are recruited simply by beating them in a fight. Thing is monsters will only fight you if you offer them their favourite food so that's where strategy comes in.

Moonstone Island

I know very little about this one except its also a monster catching and farming game. I've heard that its really good though and I believe its PC only right now but has a planned Switch port.

Timenet

Probably the most obscure ass monster tamer on this entire list. This is a Japanese exclusive set of Gameboy games featuring very cute monster designs... and Hello Kitty. Yes Sanrio made a monster tamer back in the late 90s. I only learned this even existed after scrolling down a comment section on a random YouTube video.

Abomi Nation

I'm mostly excluding roguelike games due to most having nothing but battles an 0 plot but this one does actually has a story! You play as the actual monster as you make your way through somewhat randomly generated maps with lots of other randomized elements. The game allows for a lot of customization including turning off permadeath if you're not a fan of that. The visual style is a bit crude but its still a pretty cute game.

Jade Concoon

Another somewhat obscure entry but at least this one got an English release. Anyway its an old RPG for the PSX with monster capturing and a very fascinating monster fusing mechanic that uses an algorithm to determine the appearance of the fusion. The player character can also participate in battle and the plot is very complex. The game also has a sequel on the PS2 but I know even less about that one.

Robopon

Now if you thought Palworld was bordering on some copyright infringement this game is basically nothing but "Pokemon but the designs are robots". Still worth bringing up I think!

Ni No Kuni

Not sure how I got to mentioning several obscure titles and somehow didn't mention something that really isn't. Ni No Kuni is real time battles between you and 2 party members. You can both battle as the actual human characters or switch into a monster. Wrath of the White Witch's visual style in particular is very whimsical and even has some animated cutscene done by Studio Ghibli. I haven't played any other game in the franchise.

Siralim

I haven't played any entry in this series yet (there's apparently 4 games + a spinoff) but from reading up on the most recent entry these are basically procedurally generated dungeon crawlers with an insane level of depth. The story is apparently not that great but the games themselves apparently also make fun of it so it seems its an intentional dev choice. Battles are 6 on 6 and there's over 1000 monsters to collect.

Disc Creatures

A monster tamer with a visual style similar to the Gameboy and Gameboy Color. It has 3 on 3 combat. Impressively I'm pretty sure it was developed by just one person in the RPG Maker engine (I'm honestly surprised this is the first indie game made with ya know... an engine meant for turned based RPGs).

Monster Harvest

A Dungeon crawler mixed with farming. Its a bit shorter than anything else I've mentioned here and its a bit glitchy but its a cute little game worth picking up on sale at the least. Notably also only about a 1/3 of the monster in the game are combative with the rest being either used for farming resources or as mounts.

Loomian Legacy

A Roblox monster tamer.... yes there's 2 of those in this (I could even have added 3 but I think one is in still a pretty early state). Pretty sure this started as a Pokemon fangame and become its own thing later. It has your typical 1 on 1 turn based combat and all that. I think its free to play and there's like several hours of content on it so maybe worth a gander.

Tales of Tonorio

Pretty sure this is the same basic deal as Loomian (Roblox game, started as a Pokemon fan game, etc etc) though its has its own world building and creature designs since I'm pretty sure its made by a completely different team.

So yeah that's all of them I can think of right now. If I learn of others and/or there's new releases I may expand this.

PS: There is almost certainly numerous typoes in this. This post is way longer than anything else I've ever made on Tumblr so I can't be arse to fix them you're just going to have to deal!

[emk4444]

ONCE-LER VALENTINE'S SPECIAL:

It's been another long day. Despite the celebration that's intended for lovers, there's still plenty of hustle just like in any other occasion. The hustles, the usual come-and-go. An unsolicited feeling of boredom with the burden of mundanity is lingering throughout. You're lost in the Limbo of your mind.

After the eternal has subsided, it is finally time to be off from your part-time job at an instrument repair... A few hesitant taps catch your attention.

Before you, The Once-ler himself - albeit it might as well be a statue of him considering his petrified state. The gaze of his azure irises dart all over, occasionally meeting your own, the sanguine blush of his cheeks make his freckles more prominent

The guy has been lingering in the back of your mind for a couple of hours and even days prior, though given that you two aren't much more than working partners it could feel unwarranted to have made the approach yourself. You can't dwell on thought too long before he begins

Once-ler's brows curl up as he hands you the bouquet he didn't bother hiding well at all.

His speech is tender yet thrilled as he makes the confession:

If it hasn't been clear enough with the amount of personal issues he's been sharing recently, he's had feelings for you for a while. There's a lot of hustle in his life as well, having to get around various part-time jobs to sustain himself; the disapproval and mockery of the townsfolk upon him offering his Thneed publicly haven't exactly been a source of comfort. But you have. There's still plenty to consider, and he makes it clear that understanding his feelings―platonic or romantic―for you is rather confusing. Yet there's no denial that his affection is genuine.

You don't notice, but the palpitations of his heart bursts and flutter underneath his clothes. The soothing scent of roses flutters about too, gently scattering the two of you as you stand in proximity...

Eight roses, carefully picked... There's a chance that he might been the one who gathered them from a bush... He's been known for cutting on plants anyway. Their petals bend and twist in an endless twirl, their spines have been thoughtfully cut away. You lean closer to inhale their enchanting perfume. Your eyes glistening at the sight...

Huh, what's that?

He's also brought chocolates?

You're aware that Once-ler tends to be short on money to spend, you know, given that his Thneeds are currently very disregarded...

Once-ler's face begins to brighten up, not only from a smile but as he's slowly getting confident with this interaction. He tries to control his timid grin as you receive the golden box. They're not the cheapest kind. He's certainly giving a lot here.

For a while, you're left speechless... What could be said anyway? You've gotten too caught up with your own worries, and now him pouring out his heart in that way just makes it all hard to process.

You begin by expressing gratitude: not only for the devoted gesture, but for his determination too. It's definitely a bold move and, of course, there's the need to consider whether you could work out well together. Neither of you are familiar with closeness. Regardless, you're willing to give it a go. You express that this all feels like the plot of a carefully constructed dream.....

In that case, YOU must really be the guy of my dreams!!

...

That was the last straw. He hides away as you chuckle at his dorkiness. It's all so corny, but the way you compliment Once-ler's essence it makes it completely worthwhile.

End 🌹

Wow that was goofy. Anyways, here's some extras!!

~ You two decide to go out for the day. You offered to take a photo of him along with his gifts. The moment of his smitten gesture is now forever sealed in time.

Oh, that derpy little smile is what was missing !

~ You invite him to have a couple of chocolates. He refused and was adamant about you having all of them. In the end, he did try one or two...

~ After teasing him jokingly about the vast amount of times he stuttered whilst expressing his feelings, you pucker up and lean closer... He gets more flustered than ever

Perhaps, in the possible future you too might share together, a full-on lipstick kiss attack would be an appropriate way to proceed - after all, his silly reaction is to die for !

(quite literally. Bro looks unhinged yo)

Happy late valentine's to all my folks 💞

[bluegekk0]

Any tips on how to draw PK's head and horns? I've not been able to figure out a good, consistent way of doing it myself yet.

well, for starters, i significantly simplified their shape. if you compare fpk to canon pk, his design is much rounder, and his horns are considerably shorter. it's mostly a stylistic choice (though the roundness of the horns can be explained in the au), but it makes them much easier to draw + they help to give him a more streamlined look, which fits fpk's lizard aesthetic, although i think it would work with different interpretations as well

this is generally how i approach his headshape. very round and salamander like, with a subtle snout, especially visible from the side. of course, this can vary as i'm very inconsistent when i draw, but this is more or less what i try to go for

his head is very round from the top, and the neck meets the lower jaw at an angle, which allows him to lay his head flat on the ground and gives it a more elongated appearance than what you'd see in a more "human" like neck position

like i said, the horns are probably the biggest deviation from his canon appearance. if you've been following me for a while, you'll notice that i gradually made them shorter and rounder with time, and this is because, well, it's significantly less headache inducing to work with. plus i really like the spade like shape, i think it flows very nicely. when i draw the crown, i start with a dome like shape with lines that are angled towards a singular point, and then just add details + more pronounced tips. if you want a more canon-like look, you can always make them more "wavy" even if you decide to shorten them

different perspectives is something i still struggle with, but i think the design choices i went with make it a little easier. the dome-like shape for the crown becomes a kind of cylinder, and the longer and flatter head also helps with figuring out how he'd look from the bottom (once again, toothless from how to train your dragon comes to the rescue)

the thing that i still haven't figured out is the side horns. i make sure they're visible no matter the angle, but what would they actually look like? i'm afraid this is one of the things that will remain in the "cartoon logic" territory, but i've seen various different interpretations similar to these, so perhaps you'll figure something out. all i know is that, if there's a ridge or a line of spikes on his head, they end somewhere on the lower jaw (they don't go around his entire head). i guess the closest to what i do when i paint would be the smooth ridge, and if i had to choose one option, it would probably be this one. but in most of my art i simply just pretend it's not there haha

i hope this is somewhat helpful. i don't know how to do tutorials and i suck at explaining, but perhaps you'll find some inspiration in these. i tried to sketch out what a more "human like" appearance could look like, with a shorter and flatter face, but it just looks goofy no matter what. sorry haha

[higharollakockamamie]

Dawntrail Thoughts

Just putting my thoughts together.

SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE EXPANSION

Overall, I enjoyed it. The parts I liked less were more missed opportunities than anything outright bad. There was definitely nothing on the Werlyt scale of bad, which is what I was afraid of ever since I heard my personal enemy Werlyt Guy was working on MSQ. You can see where the less experienced writers are getting a feel for things, but I think they did a reasonably good job of it.

Things I Liked:

The environments are gorgeous. I spent plenty of time just ramming my face into plants so I could look at the leaves. Those leaves!

Meeting the different people of Tural was a lot of fun. I liked the summer vacation feeling of just exploring and learning about different cultures. I liked that there were a lot of things for us to do besides "go here kill this", like trade some wool for fancy mezcal like that one guy who traded a red paperclip until he got a house.

I loved seeing fantasy with a Central/South American inspiration. It's really fresh and the colors and designs are wonderful.

The centering of female characters. We had lots of women in major roles, and I really appreciate that. I especially love to see a female villain. I am a full supporter of women's wrongs.

Bakool Ja Ja going from a goofy enemy it was fun to give crap to (I love Wuk Lamat's delivery of, "Be quiet, Bakool Ja Ja. No one cares what you think.") to a tragic child overloaded with expectations was great.

Zoraal Ja betraying his Obviously Going to Betray Him Evil Vizier was hilarious, though it came at the price of giving us less Sareel Ja, who I enjoyed

I liked that the WoL stepped back and took a mentor role. I don't really invest in these kinds of blank characters - they're just a wall for the characters to play tennis against - so you could replace the WoL with a piece of cold pizza with "nods" pepperoni'd onto it and I wouldn't care. So I'm down with them being a supporting character.

Wuk Lamat. I love her design, I liked seeing her journey and growth throughout the story, and I liked the story being based around the development of a leader, this time based on maintaining the peace rather than overthrowing an oppressor. I also thought her voice suited her well. I understand the frustrations of people who thought she monopolized screentime. More on that in Missed Opportunities.

Sphene's part of the story was a lot of fun. I loved how openly friendly yet very suspicious she was, and I enjoyed trying to guess her secrets. Exploring her lands and figuring out the dark side of this ostensibly happy place made me and some friends think of The Giver, and that was fun to compare and contrast.

The combat and dungeons were a ton of fun. Vanguard is a personal favorite. Gotta love any dungeon you crash a train into.

Things I Didn't Mind:

The music used the main leitmotif a lot, but then again, so did Endwalker. In that case a lot of the big bangers that massively slap came in the patches, and, given how Honey B Lovely's theme has taken up residence in my head permanently, that pattern looks to hold out. Also I love the jazz in Tuliyollal.

Missed Opportunities:

I would have liked to see the Scions take more of an active mentorship role. Like, for each culture/area, have one of our buddies teach a lesson: like, Alphinaud should have definitely gotten a chance to talk about not letting yourself think you're the big omnipotent smarty boy who can solve everything yourself. This would have been a fun way to show the Scions' development as well as helping us not overdose on Wuk Lamat by having her be the focus alone.

Where's Zoraal Ja's mom? Where's Gulool Ja's mom? If it weren't for two-heads requiring two parents, I'd think these were those lizards that reproduce parthenogenically.

Zoraal Ja was a little underbaked. He's got this idea of sowing warfare to teach people that war is bad, but where did he get that notion? Why's he willing to go so far for it?

While effective, the idea of fighting someone who is trying to preserve the past at the cost of the present was a bit of an Ascians retread. It's strange that no character ever mentioned that similarity - or, with the idea of things that maintain their existence by sapping the life of other beings, the similarity to Primals.

Also, I hate to argue for more Thancred, who sucks, but "a person you loved and lost continues to exist but at the expense of currently living people" is something he should have been around to have an opinion on.

Where's the Ironworks? There's so much technology they'd have a field day with. Where's Nero? SHOW ME MY BOY

[unfortunatesal]

The Teal Mask DLC for Pokemon Scarlet & Violet fucking rules

So, I haven't mentioned this here, but I genuinely do like Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. It's... deeply flawed for sure. The game is a buggy mess, the level scaling (or lack thereof) is atrocious, the way random encounters are handled fucking sucks with you running into shit constantly and it's just. not very challenging.

But it has a huge, huge plus that to me, makes up for all of that, and it's one that I'm strongly biased towards. Though... it's technically two: the plot, and the characters.

Now, Pokemon has never been bad at character design, really. The characters are always endearing and cool and whatnot. But besides some exceptions like N and Bianca, they're never all that interesting, at least to me. They're not much more than pleasant. But Scarlet & Violet has *great* characters, it's by far its strongest suit. The gym leaders aren't anything deep, but they do have such distinct and memorable personalities that they just... stick with you. Maybe it's recency bias, but I could tell you that Katy is a sweet old lady, Brassuis is a massive theatre kid, Iono is an energetic vtuber, Kofu is a goofy uncle, Larry is a depressed businessman, Ryme is... I guess a rapper, honestly Ryme isn't that interesting imo, Tulip has extremely bad vibes and I do not want to be near her, and Grusha is a jaded cynical twink with PTSD. These are all great!

And those are characters from the "bad" storyline, the one with little to no narrative merit! The Team Star storyline absolutely rules and is just, genuinely really good and the way it slowly unpacks an unflods the actual reality of what Team Star is and what happened with them is just, wonderful. I love the direction it goes in and the message it conveys. And the herba mystica storyline is! Okay! It's fine! People seem to love it but I just think it's kind of okay. I will say that Arven's storyline is general is great, but it only really reached that point when you get to Area Zero which is a whole other thing and is also just, great.

And the rivals, or rival-like characters, are fantastic. I especially love Nemona who is an austistic yandere icon (but only yandere in the Pokemon sense, where Pokemon battles are everything and are considered an almost intimate experience at times in Scarlet & Violet as a whole???)

Nemona is absolutely my favourite rival, or *was*, until the Teal Mask DLC came along and introduced two rivals that, ahem, rivaled her. Both are just massive, massive hits in my book, and... I want to talk about why, because they have been living rent-free in my head and the yare 2 of the 3 elements that make the Teal Mask DLC so great, the third being Ogerpon herself, which I will get to later.

OH BY THE WAY I WILL BE SPOILING THE TEAL MASK DLC SO IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN IT, DO NOT READ

So, the first notable rival is Carmine. And she definitely acts like a Pokemon rival in the classic, Gary / Silver, huge asshole kind of way. As soon as you meet her, she tells you to get the fuck out of her village and challenges you to a battle. She's kind of a dark Nemona in a sense, in that she takes the tsundere approach instead of the yandere approach. She totally doesn't love battling you or spending time with you or anything, obviously not! There is so much romantic tension between you and every single Scarlet & Violet rival and it fucking rules, especially since it manifests so differently for all 3 of them.

But... eventually, Carmen warms up to you, and you start getting along with her. She helps you out and becomes a reliable partner, and ends up having absolutely no qualms being friendly with you. The thing is, though... Carmen never stops being an asshole. She continues to be kind of a bitch throughout the entire story! She just becomes a bitch in a very endearing and likeable way, and directs that bitchiness in a productive, fun, and even helpful ways, and that's just wonderful. She's pretentious, quick to anger, looks down on everything and everyone, and I love her so fucking much

And then, there's Kieran, Carmen's litle brother and also my precious son. Kieran is kind of the opposite of Carmen. He doesn't seem like a rival at all. He's just a shy and nervous kid who clearly likes you a lot and wants to be friends and get along with you. Just a sweet little kid with anxiety! Extremely likeable, extremely endearing, you can't not love the kid

But then you learn he has a huge fixation with Ogerpon and other creatures that are demonized and treated as outcasts. Still endearing, but gives him a lot of depth! And, oh god, my boy has the BPD and he is absolutely FPing Ogerpon. He gets increasingly upset and incomfortable with you getting close to Ogerpon when he isn't able to, and starts sulking and running off, and man, I've been there. I know what it's like and I feel for Kieran so much.

This all comes to a head when you catch Ogerpon, and add her to your party, thus preventing Kieran from being close to the creature he loves and admires so much. After that, he starts to lose it, and becomes an extremely compelling rival who straddles the line between friend and antagonist. The cliffhanger ending suggests that he'll continue to spiral out of control for the next DLC and god, I am so here for it. I love his story arc so, so fucking much and I cannot wait to see what they do with it

And then, there's Ogerpon. Ogerpon is a precious little creature who was deeply wronged by the village, deomized and cast aside from the start. The mian antagonists of the arc, the Loyal 3, took advantage of her status as an outcast to kill her only friend and steal what was most precious to them, causing her to fight back, and be cast as the villain for centuries as a result. And. Fuck. I love Ogerpon so much. I love her story, I love the way it's resolved, I love how it ties into Kieran's character and the final fight against Ogerpon herself. I used to not know what to say when people told me what my favourite Pokemon is. Now, I know, and I'm so grateful fto the Teal Mask DLC for that.

[ghoulsbian]

Which tg character would you most want to meet irl :P

omg...!!

i'm so glad you asked :'3

i would absolutely want to meet the entire quinx squad!! i think i would mesh with them really well. i feel like they're all sort of outcasts in their own ways, and i really relate to that. i think they found home within each other and i really would like to be involved in that with them :'3 i wanna be apart of their little family!!

urie and i could bond over our shared interests in art, i think. i also imagine he would listen to the same sort of music that i do... tbh i listen to pretty much everything but my most favorite genres of music are emo and nu metal!! i don't think he'd be into the nu metal really but i think he would love emo music!!

mutsuki and i could have a mutual understanding of each other, i think. he reminds me a lot of one of my closest friends and i imagine our relationship would be similar to the one i have with him. i like the idea of us just sharing our struggles and worries with each other and being able to bond and comfort each other.

saiko is... pretty much just me. her and i would hit it off instantly. i think we could bond over our interests in anime and games. i also think that she is very naturally affectionate like me and i would love for us to be mutually affectionate to each other!!

shirazu is an eldest sibling just like me! i think he and i could really bond over this too. i grew up taking care of and protecting my younger sister, sort of like how he did. bragging about how cool our little sisters are would be how our first conversation would go.

hsiao is very kind and lovely. i would of course bond with her over being a lesbian ;3 i would loveee to gush over our crushes together. i also think this would be cute because i'm a lot like saiko, and my crush is a lot like hsiao. i think it's sort of a cute little switcheroo. she could get a saiko-like perspective and i could get a perspective from her similar to that of my crush's.

shinsanpei is even more emo than urie, and his personality matches my own more closely too. i think he and i would hit it off instantly, too. i would absolutely love to share bands and singers with him, and of course receive his recommendations too. i also feel like he would be a really wonderful listener, idk that's just the vibes i get. we also both really like fishing!

higemaru is a bit goofy, i think i'd think he's funny. i think out of all of the quinx, i'd be the least close to him minus urie. i'm certain he could make me laugh a lot, and i would really like to hear about his uncle being a firefighter too. my dad and one of my grandpas both were at one point, too. a similarity there!

sooooo.... yeah :3 hope this is adequate!